It was recorded with his band, Full Circle, which features Daniel Grindstaff on banjo and guitar, Chris Davis on fiddle and mandolin, Glen Gibson on resophonic guitar, and Jayd Rains on bass. A few guest instrumentalists augment the band on several tracks, but Full Circle pulls the load for the most part.

This new project had been originally projected as a double-disc set, with a 2008 release date. Material for two CDs was recorded and mixed, but they will be marketed as separate albums, with the second one set to hit later in 2009.

Banjo man Grindstaff says that the CD will appeal to anyone who has enjoyed Raybon’s music over the years, from his early days singing with his family’s bluegrass group, through his time riding high on the country/pop charts as a member of Shenandoah, and back again to the bluegrass fold.

“The album could be described as an overview of Marty’s vocal ability. There are bluegrass songs, Gospel songs, and some ballads – all sounds that have shaped the musical style that he performs.”

Audio for one track, Next Thing Smokin’, a driving bluegrass number, can be heard on MySpace.

Raybon will be recording an episode of Track-By-Track for Sirius-XM’s Bluegrass Junction next week, with an air date sometime in May or June likely.

UPDATE 4/29:  Oops… Scott Napier just alerted us to an ommission above:

 I am playing mandolin tracks on all but 3 cuts on this project. [Far more than a guest instrumentalist, I would say. ed]  It’s work that I am very proud to have been a part of.

There are others that recorded on all, or the most part of this CD, but there are no detailed credits with the CD. They deserve individual credit as well. Maybe they could find a way to fairly list these credits for the fans to see.

Scott is on mandolin for the cut of Next Thing Smokin’ on Marty’s MySpace page.

As a youngster, she was drawn to the sound of the music at the festivals she attended with her family. She soon had a banjo in her hand, and learned to play the driving Scruggs style as she also began to develop as a singer and songwriter. By 1979, she embarked on a music career and had memorable stints with The New Coon Creek Girls, and Wild Rose, a bluegrass/country hybrid that saw commercial success in Nashville.

Wild Rose was also an all-female band, which included fellow Coon Creeker Pam Perry, and multi-instrumentalist Wanda Vick. They released three albums on Capitol Records, with a couple of Top 40 singles, before disbanding in 1991.

But Pam never stopped performing and writing, touring with Patty Loveless and Porter Wagoner, and penning songs recorded by country artist, Terri Clark, as well as bluegrass artists, Carl Jackson and John Starling, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, and The Rarely Herd.

She returned to bluegrass in 1997, and has released three solo CDs, the latest, Benefit Of Doubt, released just this week. The bulk of the songs are her own compositions, with a couple of bluegrass classics for good measure.

Pam plays banjos and carries the lead vocals, with assistance from Bryan Sutton on guitar, Andy Leftwich and Aubrey Haynie on fiddle and mandolin, Wand Vick on resonator guitar, and Mark Burchfield on bass. Dolly Parton and Marty Raybon join Pam for a pair of duets, with harmony vocals from Steve Gulley and Dale Ann Bradley.

Here’s a taste of one of her songs, a hard-driving bluegrass song, Hit The Highway.

Listen now:

We had a chance to discuss all this with Pam recently, from her early days in bluegrass right through the new CD release. My initial questions asked how she became acquainted with bluegrass music and drawn to play the banjo.

“I grew up with the music, but it would definitely be that I loved the bluegrass festivals and the bands we heard there. It was then that I really fell in love with bluegrass. I loved the Osborne Brothers cause I’d heard them since childhood, and the Country Gentlemen – I’d always loved their haunting records (Bringing Mary Home was the very first song I learned on the guitar when I was 8 years old). I loved Charlie Waller and the later generation Gentlemen, as well.

Loved The II Generation. They were extremely cool for a kid in the 70’s. The Seldom Scene with Duffy and Mike Auldridge and Ben on banjo, they were just a thrill at the end of a night up on stage at the Festival of the Bluegrass, and Ralph Stanley with Keith Whitley (which was when I remember really loving what he did) just further drew me in. Playing the banjo was so much fun, and there were so many great pickers in the Florence, KY and Cincinnati, OH area.

It never dawned on me to even play the banjo until one day Daddy said, ‘Why don’t you learn to play the banjo?’ and I said…’OK.’ He’d met a guy named Jeff Roberts at Mac Wiseman’s Renfro Valley Bluegrass Festival from up in northern KY where we lived who said he’d give lessons. And so it all began. Daddy had a 1974 Vega banjo he’d tried to learn to play- with no luck, and so in frustration he put it in the paper to sell. Thank God nobody bought it.

From my first lesson with Jeff (who I fell madly in crush with, but he was 22 and I was 14,) learning Foggy Mountain Breakdown by memory from beginning to end, I fell in love with it. It was absolutely addictive.”

I also asked how she chose the musicians to accompany her on this CD.

It wasn’t real hard. I knew I wanted Dale Ann from the beginning. She sang harmony on my first solo project, The Long Road, on Vanguard. I feel she and I blend very well, and there is no better harmony singer, let’s face it. Steve Gulley was the perfect compliment to her and my voice. He is just the best. Dale Ann gave me the idea to use him, and I will always be grateful to her for that. He was a joy to work with.

Nancy Gardner, my co-producer and dear friend is just one of my favorite singers (as well as people), and we sang together for 7 years with Wild Rose. She was amazing in how she blended, as well (plus playing some dynamite tambourine on AppleJack!). Marty Raybon is someone I’d always wanted to record with him, so that came quite easy, and Wanda Vick Burchfield, my oldtime Wild Rose partner was just the best to work with in selecting Aubrey and Andy. They are two of the best, and I wanted them on there, so we split it up and had them both.

Wanda is an exceptional dobro player, as well as fiddler (and everything else that has strings), and so she was my first choice. It was also important to me that she play fiddle on Wagon Master and Nancy sing on it since they had both been original members of his female band, the Right Combination, back in the 80’s.

Wanda cried when she came in and heard the song for the first time to play on it. That tore me up. Her haunting, country fiddle is perfectly what I heard for the song. Her husband, Mark Burchfield, is a wonderfully tasteful bassist, and he was a great final pick to bring the team together to make this album.

Among the tracks on Benefit of Doubt are Hold Whatcha Got from Jimmy Martin and Tennessee Hound Dog from The Osborne Brothers. I asked Pam if they had been a big influence on her music.

“Yes, a tremendous influence – especially the Osbornes. I saw them at a lot of festivals during my teenage years, and absolutely loved the albums that we had at the house growing up. There is just nobody else who sounds like them, whose harmonies are so full and moving. Their arrangements and song choices were just genius to me.

I hope they can only feel complimented that I recorded several of their songs (Listening to the Rain was on my first solo project, The Long Road, as a duet with Carl Jackson).”

We’ll finish up our interview with Pam tomorrow, including a couple more song samples and her thoughts about the rest of the songs on Benefit of Doubt.

At noon, The Kati Penn Band will perform live on Blue Plate Special, broadcast from The Square Room in Knoxville, TN on WDVX.

They will perform material from her latest CD, My Turn To Cry. Joining Kati will be her touring band, which features CJ Cain on guitar, Jimmy Redden on banjo, Jame Kee on mandolin, Terry Poirer on bass and Penn on fiddle and vocals.

The WDVX is available over the air at 89.9 FM, and via audio streaming online.

RB Morris will also appear on the show.

Then at 1:00 p.m., Marty Raybon will join Gracie Muldoon on WorldWideBluegrass.com for a discussion about his new CD, This That and the Other, and the band’s tour in support which begins in February.

The WWB online bluegrass feed is available 24/7 at worldwidebluegrass.com.

You can read a bit more about the new CD in this piece we published last summer.

Bobby Osborne was scheduled to play on The Grand Ole Opry this past weekend, coinciding with the 41st anniversary of Rocky Top, which was released on December 25, 1967. Bobby’s regular banjo man, Dana Cupp, was unavailable for the show, so Daniel got the call.

“Having filled in and worked with Sonny and Bobby numerous times in the past I always jump at the chance to play that music again. After I spoke to Bobby about doing the show, Sonny got in touch with me on Friday morning (12/26). He asked if I would like to play his RB-3, the banjo that was used on the original recording of Rocky Top and numerous other Osborne Brothers songs.

I, of course, said that I would love to!

The end result of the evening was me getting to perform on the stage of the Opry at The Ryman, during the anniversary of Rocky Top, playing the banjo that recorded it, beside the man who sang it!

What a Christmas gift! A very high point in my career! What a great banjo and a great moment!”

The audio from that Opry show should show up soon in the WSM online archives.

Daniel tells us that the new Marty Raybon CD, This That and the Other, is due for release in January ‘09, and that they will begin touring in support when they return from a Caribbean cruise with Rhonda Vincent in early February.

Tough duty…

The Marty Raybon schedule can be found on his web site, and samples from Daniel’s fine solo CD, April Fool, can be heard at CD Baby.

The name, Summertown Road, came from a Marty Raybon song with the same title.

The elder statesman in the quartet is Jack Hicks, innovative banjo player and former Blue Grass Boy (April 1971 – September 1973), who has had a long and varied musical career. He has also been a part of such legendary groups as Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys, the Whites, Lester Flatt, Sonny James and Conway Twitty, with whom he worked for about 10 years.

Alongside Hicks is guitarist Bo Isaac, a part of the Kentucky Opry and a member of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. Isaacs has played with the Ernie Thacker, Dave Evans and Larry Cordle. He has also made guest appearances with IIIrd Tyme Out and Marty Raybon. As a soloist, Bo’s first single stayed on the bluegrass charts for 10 months. His eponymous solo album has earned rave reviews. He has been nominated for the IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year award.

The other two members are John Rigsby and Randy Thomas.

Rigsby is a Grammy award winner for his talent on the mandolin and fiddle. He started out his musical journey with Dwight Whitley and Sideroads while he was still in high school. Rigsby has played with such notables as Ralph Stanley and Melvin Goins. He is cousin to Don and Ron Rigsby.

Thomas (bass) has made his name working with Dave Evans, Tony Rice, Hylo Brown, Don Reno, the Marshall Family and Bo Isaac and the Wheelwrights.

The foursome has been working together for about four months. Rigsby and Hicks have known each other for many years, but they didn’t get the idea to play together until quite recently while both were working with Melvin Goins. Hicks met Isaac and Thomas not very long ago through Rigsby and was very impressed with their vocal and musical ability. Isaac and Thomas have been playing together in the Bo Isaac Band for a few years.

They have already been in the studio recording, laying down tracks for nine songs, of which seven were written by band members. Jack Hicks and Boyd County Middle School teacher Shayla Huffman wrote three songs, Rosalee, What’s Not To Love, and Dennie Braden, and Bo Isaac wrote I’m Leaving You. These four songs can be heard on a demo CD that Summertown Road is distributing to interested parties.

Jack Hicks tells me that they have three more songs to do; working as they have been doing in his motor- home-converted-to-recording-studio. He adds ….

“We are working on a record deal as we speak, I can’t say for sure yet. The CD should be out after the first of the year.”

Summertown Road signed up with Main Street Entertainment earlier this week and they are already booked at the Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Uncle Pen Days Festival, September 24-27, Bean Blossom, Indiana and a Prince Edward Island festival in Canada (July 4 & 5, 2009). They are also going to be a showcase band at SPBGMA (February 12-15, 2009).

You can hear audio samples on the band’s MySpace page.

For booking information contact Karen Kouns with Main Street Entertainment (606-922-2313).

As many of our readers are aware, Raybon got his start as a bluegrass artist in Florida performing with his family band before achieving chart-topping success with the country band Shenandoah.

Daniel tells us that the new CD is tentatively titled, This That And The Other, and will touch on many of the various musical styles Marty has performed over the years – to include ballads, up tempo bluegrass, and Gospel music. It will be his first double disc project, and an early release to bluegrass radio is due to be shipped in August.

Marty has wanted to release a project like this for some time, based on recurring fan requests, and shared his own thoughts about the new CD:

“This has been a long awaited project of material that I truly believe will take the fan of yesterday and today to a reminiscence of the past while keeping pace with what looks like a very bright and successful future.”

The band has just returned from a tour of Canada, and Daniel says that despite high fuel prices, attendance at shows was very strong. On the way back, Marty and the guys found time for a stop in New York City to take in a Yankees game.

Marty will be on tour throughout the remainder of the year and is planing for a very busy 2009 tour to promote the new double album.

We’ll have more on the new release as details emerge.

Marty Raybon

No title has been discussed as yet, and Marty is looking at a mid-summer 2008 release.

We understand that Marty has also booked studio time for a new all-Gospel project, with a fall 2008 release date. Busy little beavers…

You can find Marty’s tour schedule online if you’d like to catch him and his band, Full Circle, live this season.

We reported over the weekend that Matt had left Lonesome River Band, largely to spend more time at home with his wife and young son. Phil wanted to let us know that Matt just took the gig with Marty Raybon & Full Circle.

“Marty’s schedule and logistics seemed to work better with Matt. He had a wonderful time with the LRB, and it was a very hard decision to leave. He is looking forward to the new page in his career with Marty Raybon.”

Matt is actually a third generation bluegrass picker. Not only is his dad a prominent professional picker, his grandfather John Leadbetter was a banjo player.

Must be something in the water…

This week on The GrassCast we continue our interview with bluegrass legend Paul Williams. Last week we took a look at Paul’s background in the music business, how he got started, and left the discussion after listening to a song he had written and performed on a live DVD production.

Part 2 of the interview continues this week as Paul discusses one of his most popular tunes, My Walkin’ Shoes Don’t Fit Me Anymore, and then goes on to tell us about a new song he has written that has been recorded on a recent Marty Raybon release. We’ve included a verse and chorus of Marty singing the song.

Paul then goes on to talk about his DVD release and his plans for the future. This is the conclusion to a great interview, be sure to listen to both parts.

Direct Download: ep54_paul_williams_pt2.mp3

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All of the band members enjoyed an easy camaraderie performing with smiles as genuine as their music. Scott Napier is the newest member of the band and his mandolin style really complements the musical direction that Marty is steering. Glen Harrell’s fiddle playing was tastefully appropriate and I saw Marty break into a big grin several times during a fiddle solo indicating that Glen had done something unexpected and enjoyable. Shane Blackwell contributed some great guitar pickin and even vocals on a couple numbers. Derek Dillman comes to Full Circle after several years as a Sunny Mountain Boy with the late King of Bluegrass, Jimmy Martin. Edgar Loudermilk, holding down both the low end and the high – playing bass and singing tenor, is not only a great musical asset but also an integral part of the stage show. Marty is a great entertainer and very easily adapted to the audience he was playing to. Combine that with Loudermilk’s contributions of exuberance and sharp movement on stage and the show really comes to life.

The music was great, but what really impressed me was the show. The presentation was well above standard for a bluegrass band, professional and personal at the same time. Marty managed to turn the audience’s lack of response to a joke, into one of the funniest moments of the evening, a skill you only witness in true professionals.

I was also pleased to hear Marty express his respect for, and desire to preserve, the purity of bluegrass music. He explained his vision for the direction of the band, and their goal to expose a new audience to bluegrass. Much like Jerry Douglas’ keynote monday night, Marty seems intent on “injecting them all with bluegrass” as Douglas put it. He does intend to play venues not normally on a bluegrass act’s tour schedule and while delivering the show those promoters expect, he plans to inject bluegrass into the mix. He also talked about his passion for the undiluted pure bluegrass he was playing last night and will be playing at bluegrass festivals all next year.

I took a few photos during the show and I got a few good ones that I’ll share with you here. Oh, and Marty served a fried chicken dinner with cole slaw and desert. Thanks Marty!

Marty Raybon will be releasing two new CDs later this month. The Grass I Grew Up On is a bluegrass CD and When The Sand Runs Out will be simultaneously released as a country project. Singles from both projects have already been released to radio. I had the chance to converse with Marty about these projects recently and ask him a few questions. My concern was mainly with the bluegrass project, but we did discuss the country release some as well. Here’s the interview.

Marty can you tell me about the players on this CD? Who they are, and why you wanted them involved in this project?

Well, the band that I had together at the time of the first initial recording was Patton Wages on banjo, and after having a baby, he decided to stay at home and has gone to work land surveyin’. Patton played banjo on all of the cuts except for Tall And Tough, the Paul Williams number from the album. I replaced him with a young man by the name of Derrick Dillman who played with Mr. Good ‘N Country, Jimmy Martin and he was one of the Sunny Mountain boys the last 4 years of Jimmy’s life. He has the attitude to work and the willingness to play it right. I felt like it was essential to have Derrick be apart of this album. When you feel a part of something then you become one of the guys and that is very important to me.

Ashby Frank in my best definition is one of the finest mandolin players and stylists this music has ever known. Shane Blackwell plays all the lead guitar work and is an individual, because of his character, that anybody would want workin’ for him.

Edgar Loudermilk is a fine young man. He is very enthusiastic and cares about his job a great deal. What I truly personally enjoy about Edgar is that he is a people person, a bass player and a tenor singer.

Glen Harrell played some of the finest twin fiddle work that I have ever heard. He has a knack to find the right part to play and what makes his playin’ so well, is he knows when to play and when not to. That is a very wonderful trait for a musician to have.

Andy Hall helped out on the dobro and done an absolutely fine job on the Pete Goble and Leroy Drums “Dixie In My Eye”.

This album is an attempt to prove my heart and the love that I have for music is bluegrass. I decided to get back into bluegrass music because of the fellowship with the fans and the pickers. My goal, which is definitely a labor of love, is to do everything that I absolutely can to bring this music and the approach and the vision to as many people as I possibly can. To quote Helen Keller, when asked what would be worse than being blind, she said “to have sight with no vision”.

Let’s discuss the songs on this project. How did you go about choosing the material? Do you have a favorite? And if so, what is it about that particular song that you like?

“Highway Headed South To Dixie” was penned by Porter Wagoner. I fell in love with Porter the day he had Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs on his TV show. Then later on the Osborne Brothers cut that and I always loved it. And I just felt like that as the album title says, this was the grass I grew up on. It was just another one of those tunes that while being around the house and playin” the bluegrass festivals throughout the southeastern part of the US, my brothers Ricky, Timmy, my Dad Kenny Buck and Ron Rimmer and I grew up on. “I Can”t Even Walk Without You Holding My Hand” is more of a statement of my faith in Jesus Christ and to prove how inadequate I am without the Lord to hold on to. “Alone With You” was a tune written by Faron Young which he had a big hit with. But I was introduced to the song by Jim and Jesse on their “Superior Sounds Of Bluegrass” album. And from the time that album came out, I”ve been doin” that song ever since. At a bluegrass festival in Lawtey, FL in 1974 a group from Shelby, NC came and played. They were introduced as the Bluegrass Tarheels. Their second song was entitled “The Water So Cold” wrote by Harlan Howard. I was really taken by the Tarheels because it was the first organized bluegrass band that I had ever seen that really moved me with a song. On the bill at Lawtey that same weekend was Jim and Jesse, Bill Monroe, The Lewis Family, The Sullivan Family, James Monroe and Jimmy Martin and The Sunny Mountain Boys. The Bluegrass Tarheels were the only act on that show that was not a headliner. Although to me that weekend in every sense, they were. James Randolph and Robert McDoogle. And of course Robert played the mandolin and sang tenor, James Randolph played guitar and sang lead, Jerry Edmondson played banjo and sang baritone. Doyle Donahue played fiddle and they stole the crowd. “The Water So Cold” was one of the tunes that I can recall so clearly. Plus I bought the record that had it on it. Ha Ha. “The Nerve” is a tune that tells a story in a unique way that only Bobby Braddock could write. He talks of love and how it came to be. It is definitely one of my favorites on this project. “Standin” Tall And Tough” was given to me at the very last IBMA week in Louisville, KY in 2004. Paul Williams and I stood outside the music auditorium and he sang the words to me. And of course bein” such a Paul Williams fan and as such a contribution of talent that he gave to Jimmy Martin, I truly believe drew me to the song even that much more. And I feel honored that Paul would want me to record one of his songs. I am truly a fan. The quartet numbers on the album, “The Home Above” written by Bill Monroe exudes the love of quartet singin”. Our arrangement on this project is somewhat different but I assure you the love for it isn”t. And those are really probably my favorites on the album.

How do you go about working up arrangements for the tunes? Do you know what you want in your head before you start working with the band or do they have some input on the arrangement?

It”s a democratic system. I truly believe to be a good boss is to be a good listener. Opinions are very valuable and what I”ve found, is the right ones and the wrong ones are always good. Because they lead you and keep the creative juices stirring. The guys I work with want this thing to work as much as I do. And I believe in them, and their ability, enough to never try to hinder them but to help create the sound that we”ve put together for the last 4 years.

I noticed on your site that you have two samples of the tune Shenandoah Saturday Night, one country, the other bluegrass. What caused you to produce it this way? Were they produced at the same time for the two different albums? That must be demanding to produce two CDs simultaneously, what inspired you to undertake that?

The biggest undertaking this year has been to record two albums simultaneously. One with just a little bit different approach because of the pursuit of expansion. To put “Shenadoah Saturday Night” out in the mainstream, to build audiences, would have to be instrumentally different. And the reason for recording it Bluegrass would be to convince Bluegrass lovers that I have no intention of ever abandoning the music that I truly love in my soul. “The Grass I Grew Up On” is a gathering of material that I’d done as a boy growin’ up. And to find myself some years later in mainstream country music was to present something that I will never be able to get away from. I will always be known as the guy that sang the hits of Shenandoah. Being in the studio listening to the magic, having the feeling you get, when a song moves you like it will, I feel is just as much a part of living and creating what your heart feels.

Any interesting story from the recording/production process that you want to share?

Actually it was truly all business. Usually the guys that have a lot of humor took what they were doing very seriously and I thought that was very professional of them. They don”t claim to be studio musicians but they know the importance and believe in the vision.

How do you feel about this project overall in the sense of it’s strength as a representation of what you do? Are you pleased with it?

I truly believe that when someone tries to perfect a craft it is a never ending battle to try to do better than what you did before. But at times to try to be a good producer you have to realize when the magic is there. And that is when you quit. This music in it’s rawest form with flaws and flat notes has been what has made it since the beginning of its existence.